Singer/songwriter Steve Koester is at the nexus of @twodarkbirds, a band based on Pakatakan Mountain and veers towards guitar-led songs; Koester’s themes are grand. Two Dark Birds’ third album, Bow, is a song cycle “about openings and awakenings, about the spirit of nature and the nature of spirit.” Make of that what you will; it’s poised, structured, self-aware, ambitious. Bow was recorded in Woodstock, and like the previous two albums features drummer Jason Mills and guitarist/singer/engineer Don Piper, plus a shifting cast of other Catskills-based music. — @eddiebrannan 📷 @charliegrosss